This Swedish rifle
m/39 has never been changed to m/40 and the provenance is clear – it
was sold by Carl Gustafs Gun Factory to a collector complete with
original bayonet.

Courtesy of a member from Gothia Arms Historical Society

1939 Sweden bought
5 000 rifles K98k from Germany in 7.9x58 mm. The calibre was called
patron 8 mm m/39. According to the Swedish Military archives these
rifles were called Pansargevar m/39 (Anti-tank rifle m/39) or Pvg
m/39.

This was a very
determined acquisition. Swedish Military have always been bound by
the very limited budget. Some military has a tendency to look at the
last war not the next. Tank regiments were at this time a new branch
of the army. The Swedish tanks at this time were made of very
inferior armour and had very weak guns. These tanks had no chance to
deal with the fast developing German tanks.

Whatever the
Military real reasons were they decided to buy a standard 7.9 mm
K98k rifle as an Anti-tank gun 1939! Together with the rifles
followed a similar amount of German bayonets model 84/98 which were
called m/39 in Sweden.

These m/39 were like K98k equipped with wooden laminated stocks.

When these rifle
arrived at the Carl Gustaf Stads gun factory Gustaf Bjorkenstam took
one of the rifles at the front and smashed the stock against the big
anvil. The stock remained intact!

The initials GB is
the acceptance mark of Cpt Gustaf Bjorkenstam (1942 he became
Major).

Courtesy of John Unze

Very soon the
military realized that this cartridge could not perform as an
Anti-tank cartridge and they decided to change the calibre to
something more potent. In Sweden there existed already a strong
cartridge for Machine-guns 8 mm m/32. The choice was simple – the
K98k were re-chambered. The chamber was extended to fit the old
Swedish cartridge 8x62 mm and all of a sudden the rifle fitted for
patron m32-39 an m/32-40. The magazine capacity became reduced to
only 4 cartridges due to the larger cases. The soldier instructions
warned against loading with a fifth cartridge in the chamber, the
rifle should only be loaded with 4 cartridges.

This rifle was now
called pansarvarnsgevar m/40 (Anti-tank rifle m/40) or Pvg m/40.

Soldier instruction manual for the Artillery 1941

Due to the heavy
recoil a number of broken collar bones were reported which resulted
in the rifle was equipped with compensator. 1940 was a time when
nobody used hearing protectors. The muzzle break increased the bang
to that extent that it was ordered in the soldier instruction manual
that “the soldier’s ears should be protected against the loud
report”. Several different muzzle-breaks were tested

After 1940 there are
no reports about the terminology pvg m/39 or pvg m/40 any more, the
guns were now called Gevar m/39 and Gevar m/40.

Due to the heavy
recoil a number of broken collar bones were reported which resulted
in the rifle was equipped with compensator. 1940 was a time when
nobody used hearing protectors. The muzzle break increased the bang
to that extent that it was ordered in the soldier instruction manual
that “the soldier’s ears should be protected against the loud
report”. Several different muzzle-breaks were tested

Gev m/40

On the picture above
there is a wall chart showing the two types of cartridges “sk ptr
8mm m/39” (German) and “sk ptr 8mm m/32” (Swedish). Below on the
picture you can see the different weapons for these cartridges.

Gev m/40

Water-cooled Machinegun m/36 (US M1917A1),

Air-cooled Machingun m/39(US M1919A4)

Light Machinegun m/39 (BRNO ZB-26)

8x58mm m/39

8x62mm m/32

8x62mm m/32

8x58mm m/39

8x62mm m/32

6.5x55mm m/94

6.5x55mm m/94

6.5x55mm m/94

7.62x51 mm

7.62x51 mm

Gev m/40

Courtesy of John Unze

Top picture shows a
regular type of muzzle-break.

Middle picture shows
also a regular type of muzzle-break
at the Weapon Museum in Eskilstuna (which is closed now due to lack
of money).

The bottom picture
show a test sample of muzzle-break

Some of these
rifles m/40 had side rail mounts for sniping scope Ajack (Swedish
m/41), which also was bought from Germany. The Gev m/40 (see picture
above) at Weapon Museum in Eskilstuna had such a rifle for display
before it closed.

The muzzle break had
a tendency to come loose and caused accidents, beside it was very
unpopular among the soldiers. The rifle was withdrawn from the units
and was later sold abroad.